When inducted into the F1 calendar in 2004, It was the costliest track, Thanks to its overall facilities. This 5.4Km circuit costed $240 Million, The track has couple of nice straights and a decent corners that takes its toll on the car. One of the most technical corners in the calendar as the Sector 1 and Sector 2 requires lots of precise and much of the load acting the front of the car thanks to the long straights and the corners following it especially Turn 1 and Turn 2. This circuit has a lot of history and heritage and one can also remember the fact that this circuit was supposed to be dropped from the calendar due to the huge losses that the organisers were facing. Now that a new deal is in place, This circuit will be in the F1 Calendar until 2017.

This Circuit however finds nice support from the drivers as many like it for being Technical while some drivers like the circuit and the city itself, Thanks to the huge enthusiasm that the people show towards F1.

“China is a great place and Shanghai is a city I enjoy visiting. It’s such a big place, there is a lot to see and I enjoy it even more each time I go there” - Paul Di Resta

“The 1170 metre back straight accounts for over 20 percent of the lap distance, the cars exceed 285 km/h on four different occasions, and nine of the circuit's corners are considered to be low or medium speed, with five taken at less than 100 km/h” - Norbert Haug

“The Shanghai International Circuit is a very demanding track. Its peculiarities are several sections with a combination of braking and lateral forces as well as traction and lateral forces. This puts some demands on the car with regards to braking stability and overall balance” - Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Sauber head of track engineering

“China is a big country, but even bigger is the enthusiasm the Chinese have for Formula One! I have to say it’s hard to find another place among the many we visit during the season where there is a greater sense of passion from the fans: maybe only in Italy and Brazil do you get a similar level. I like this warmth and this enthusiasm which energises me a lot. There is so much energy coming off this city too: enormous, chaotic, call it what you will, but it’s certainly alive” - Felipe Massa

The Circuit has produced some enjoyable races in the past, Be in the 2006 race where we saw Schumacher winning his last Grand Prix or the 2009 and 2011 race which were also delight to watch. With rain being predicted for Sunday, Another exciting race might be surely on the cards.

Coming to China, If someone would have predicted Alonso to lead the championship standings, He for sure would have been a great Nostradamus. Alonso himself would admit that he never would have predicted it. The pecking order hasn’t been clear, With lots of Teams claiming that there actual season would start here namely Lotus and Mercedes, While Lotus who are in the news in the past week for various reasons including the ownership dispute or be it for protesting against the Mercedes regarding there F-Duct assisted DRS wing, They would need to put all that aside and would hope for a proper race with no incidents and no rain affecting them. Romian Grosjean would clearly has to look for finishing the race with that being his prime objective for the weekend, For sure he has shown some solid pace in the Qualifying but hasn’t been yet converted them into the race finish with collisions and driver error affecting him. Kimi Raikkonen would be hoping to have solved his power steering issues and that rain shouldn’t affect him in the race. With so much of media coverage surrounding this Team, It would be a nice finish to the weekend if one of their drivers could snatch a podium although that would be a tall ask. Mercedes on the other hand will be keen to find out if their work back at the factory has yielded the desired results, At both Melbourne and Sepang, Both of the Mercedes cars were fighting for Pole position but haven’t yet converted them to proper finish. With just 1 point to their name, The Team would be hoping to convert the positive start at the weekend into a better finish.

“In the first two races of 2012, we didn't manage to maintain our qualifying pace in race conditions. We've been working intensively on this” - Michael Schumacher

“A lot of hard work and analysis has taken place back at the factory since our return, and I hope to see these efforts pay dividends next Sunday in Shanghai with a performance which reflects the capabilities of the F1 W03” - Ross Brawn

McLaren has got to a nice start, Jenson had a mixed weekends with a win in Melbourne and a collision with Narain Karthikeyan at Sepang put him out of podium finish. Lewis hasn’t yet converted his pole positions to a win this season and would be all out to aim for a great step at this weekend. This circuit will suit the McLarens and registering their spot at the Top step is what they would be hoping for.

“I won’t deny that I’m disappointed to have had two pole positions and not to have been able to convert either of them into victories, but I prefer to think of it that luck just hasn’t been on my side, and that it will swing my way sooner or later. I also think last year taught me the value of consistency: it’s no use chasing a great result if you can't back it up with another strong finish the following week. So maybe I’m just playing myself in gently: after all, in 2007, I didn’t win a race until the sixth round, and I was in the hunt for the title all through the year” - Lewis Hamilton

Red Bull in the past have shown their dominance here even with the two long straights not affecting them in the pursuit to victory. The Team have enjoyed Melbourne but at Sepang they have struggled with weather playing a role and that famous incident of Vettel and Karthikeyan playing a part in the Team’s standings. Vettel should have had enough time to Move on from the incident while Webber would be hoping to put a bit more pressure on his teammate as he enjoys a better start this to the season then his teammate

Ferrari’s major upgrade is only scheduled to hit the track at the Mugello Testing, While the Team would be banking heavily on the changeable weather conditions. Prior to this season, if anyone had their doubts on Alonso and his driving abilities, he has shown one and all as to why he has won the championships in the past. The task for Alonso is pretty much clear, He has to bank on the weather conditions and would be hoping for others to make mistakes in the race. Clearly Ferrari is not having a car that can fight for Pole in Qualifying but they can bank on others strategies in the race to aim for a Top 8 finish. Massa would be hoping that his time at the factory would have changed his car’s characteristics, There is not much time left for Massa to convince the team for a place next season {Provided he is not replaced by someone this season itself}. Massa has to close in on Alonso’s pace, In Sepang he has shown that while in the race he hasn’t yet cemented his slot. This should be an ideal weekend for Massa to get back to a rhythm.

Sauber wouldn’t have hoped for a better start to their campaign, With the Second place in Sepang has clearly boosted their morale, The Sauber’s only concern would be to improve its qualifying pace while their race pace has been good thanks to its light tyre wear which has improved the operating window of their tyres. The Team has been talking about a setup tweaks for a better qualifying performance.

"Looking at the result that we had in the last race, it's normal that you raise your expectations but we are quite prudent about the fact that in Malaysia everything went just right. It would not be right to take that as a benchmark for the coming races, particularly because the gaps are so small so it doesn't take much and you are suddenly down the grid. The Sauber C31 is a fast car and, looking at the last race, is competitive under very different conditions. So it gives us a lot of confidence. We can see that there is a lot of potential, so we need to utilise it." - Monisha Kaltenborn

“The high speed corners of the track should suit our car. I especially like turn one - it is a long and pretty difficult bend” - Sergio Perez

The onus is now on Kobayashi, Prior to Perez’s arrival on the Grid, It was Kobayashi and his aggressive driving skills that were the talking point at the Sauber Team. Perez has developed into a better matured driver and Kobayashi should be taking an inspiration from Perez and should try and lead the team further for better results

Williams likewise had a great start, In both the races, they have shown that their car is quick but with them being placed 7th in the constructors standings is not where they would hope to be. The Team just needs some luck to get into their way and Maldonado would be hoping for an incident free race with a driver error in Melbourne and a engine failure at Sepang have clearly prevented him from registering his first points on the grid. Williams can’t afford any more mistakes as the midfield is so tight with both Force India and Toro Rosso breathing down their neck and as Kaltenborn had stated there is no room for mistake in the midfield. Sauber, Toro Rosso, Williams and Force India are all stated for a big development update for the first European race of the calendar and that would mean theoretically would close the grid further. So clearly all the points in these races would be crucial for the final standings.

The three new Teams are all on different directions, Caterham has clearly indicated that financially they are in better position compared to last year and a development update at each of the calendar race this season is quite possible for them, A flunk start to their campaign wouldn’t have pleased the top bosses. The Team would be hoping to squeeze into Q2 something that they have been teasing their fans for a while now. But the idea of testing Giedo van der Garde in place of Petrov who is yet to familiarize himself in his new team is not a great idea to start their weekend. Marussia who have shown that with each passing day that they are clearly closing their gap to their rivals will be hoping to add more data to what they have got in the first two weekends. Both Glock and Pic are desperate for a better car and Pic has shown that he can match Glock despite his inexperience which is a pleasing sign to the Team. For HRT, this is just another race with the Team hoping for better performance from their new parts that are scheduled to hit the track this weekend. To close in on either Marussia or Caterham would be their priority

“There are a fair amount of technical slow-speed corners, and the high-speed direction change of turns 7/8. Given these mixed characteristics, it is a demanding circuit for traction, aero and braking stability in equal measures.” - Narain Karthikeyan

“The key bit is probably into Turns 11, 12 and 13 - making sure you get the braking into Turn 11 right so you can carry as much speed as possible through 12 and 13 and out onto the straight. Get that right and you give yourself a chance to fight at the end of the straight” - Heikki Kovalainen

At the end of the day, Predicting the standings for the weekend will be a bad idea. With Changeable weather conditions and the tight midfield, The Pecking order has not been reveled and it might be a while before things start settling down. Two drivers seem to share this same view.

“It’s difficult to make predictions for this race because I’ve known it to be pretty cold and sometimes very wet, so you never quite know what is going to happen and so much depends on the weather here” - Timo Glock

“If it rains, then it’s going to be another extremely unpredictable race as we’re all still learning about the cars and tyres in damp conditions” - Jenson Button

This website is unofficial and is not associated in any way with the Formula One group of companies. F1, FORMULA ONE, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trade marks of Formula One Licensing B.V.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.